Music from the Dominican Republic: Vol. 1, The Island of Quisqueya

Various Artists

Recorded by Verna Gillis and Ramón Daniel Pérez Martínez.

"Lying midway between Puerto Rico and Cuba in the West Indies is the Dominican Republic, a country which occupies the eastern two-thirds of an island it shares with the country Haiti. The aboriginal name of the island was Quisqueya, which means ‘mother of the earth.’ When Columbus discovered the island in 1492 he renamed it ‘Española.’ In Santo Domingo, founded in 1496, one still sees the remains of the first church built in America. Here is the house where Cortés kept the court records before he had even heard of Mexico. From here Ponce de León set out in search of the Fountain of Youth..."